


Birds of a Feather

by wacko101



Category: Maximum Ride - James Patterson, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Blind Character, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Gen, Telepathy, Underworld, flock as a family, mute percy jackson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22036618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wacko101/pseuds/wacko101
Summary: Percy used to be able to speak when he was younger. Between him and Nudge, it was a wonder anyone got a word in edgewise. But not being able to speak is the least of his problems now. Now, he is on the run with the flock, trying to keep away from the School who want them back desperately to continue with their human experiments.The School and the Erasers are closing in fast, and in addition to that, new monstrous beings straight out of mythology are closing in on them as well, but they only seem to be targeting Percy.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Birds of a Feather

**Author's Note:**

> I found this on my computer from around five years ago and read it over. I have been having some trouble writing lately, so I went back and edited it for fun, and I figured I might as well post it even though I haven't looked at a Maximum Ride book for at least five years. So it will probably be a bit of a mess, but this was just for me to have fun and get into writing again, so I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Starts on chapter 104 page 327 in the Angel experiment when they are trying to buying dinner

Things were not going well.

We had come here to eat dinner, but the waiter had taken one look at us and knew we were trouble. And to be fair, we were usually trouble. But we had gotten into a fight already today, so the odds of us destroying the restaurant had to be pretty slim. Then the waiting staff had started questioning us and our admittedly ragged appearance, which Max did not take kindly to. 

"No freaking duh," Max snapped, finally losing it at our waiter's last side comment towards us. "But we're in this one, and we're hungry. Now I have money, and we brought our appetites with us; are you going to give us what we ordered or not?" The manager looked like he had just sucked on a lemon. "Not I believe," he said, signaling to a burly guy loitering by the doors to escort us outside. 

Max looked like she was about two seconds from punching the manager and the burly guy right in the face. 

"This is stupid," Iggy hissed to Gazzy and me, his fists clenching at his sides. 

We were all standing at this point, our fight or flight instincts kicking in as we waited for Max to decide what we were doing.

"Fine," Max finally said, throwing her napkin down onto the table. "We're going. The foods probably lousy here, anyway."

Only seconds after she said that the doors burst open, cops streaming in through the doors, and I could feel my whole body tense in surprise. Glancing around the room, I noticed that cops were streaming in from all the exits. The other people in the restaurant were staring open-mouthed at what was happening. 

Nervously, I realized that we were now surrounded, and I looked over to Max and Fang, wondering what they were going to do.

Fang, who also seemed to realize our predicament suggested, "Up and away?" to Max

And to all of our surprise, Max nodded, although she seemed reluctant to do so.

"Alright kiddies," My head turned to the speaker, a female cop who was weaving her way through the tables. "You have to come with us. We'll call your folks down at the station."

I kept my eyes on the cops, waiting for Max to make the first move to escape, so I missed it when Max took a bowl of olive oil and upturned it on our waiters' head, but I didn't miss the shriek of surprise that he made as a large glop of olive oil landed on his nose. 

Laughing at his face, I followed Max as she pushed off the ground and snapped out her wings, lifting herself into the air. Iggy, Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, Fang, and I all following her lead. At first, I dropped a little after the jump, but then I pushed down hard with my wings and surged upward once again. I couldn't help but look down at the faces of the people below us, "astonished" didn't come close to covering it.

I smiled slightly, feeling proud of my wings for once. They were like a Sanderlings in color and shape, only much larger.

We hovered above the restaurant tables for a few moments, just looking down at everyone who was staring back up at us. 

Then Fang, who had been circling the ceiling looking for a way out, suddenly shouted, "Up here!" and pointed to a stained-glass skylight. It was our only way out.

Come on guys!" Max shouted to us, as Fang went through the window first, shattering the glass as he went and creating a safe passageway for the rest of us. Bits of glass fell like snow onto the crowd, still gaping at us from their tables, forcing them to duck their heads and cover themselves with their arms to avoid getting glass in their eyes.

The rest of us quickly followed Fang through the now broken skylight, tucking our wing close to our bodies at the last minute so we could fit through the window opening. Once the rest of us were through, Max followed. 

"Head to the trees for cover!" Max shouted at us, having to raise her voice to be heard over the wind and the flapping of wings. We all did as we were told, rising higher in the air while simultaneously headed towards the trees in the distance. 

Compared to the atmosphere of the restaurant, the sky was almost to calm. I was flying next to Nudge, listening to her chatter and enjoying the wind hitting my face and gliding through my feathers. Now that we were a good distance away from the restaurant, I let my eyes flutter shut for a moment, feeling at peace once in the air and letting the wind calm my nerves. 

That was when the giant bat creature attacked, knocking me out of the sky.

The attack came from above me, which none of us had been expecting. In the air, we were supposed to be safe, supposed to be untouchable. 

There were claws in my arms, and I struggled to twist around to face whatever had hit me, but it was no use, every time I moved the claws dug in deeper, and I let out a strangled cry of pain as I felt another claw rake down my back between my wings. 

The creature and I were falling through the air at high speeds, we had been fairly high in the sky when I had first been struck, but I knew if I wasn't able to slow my descent soon that I was going to become a pancake on the ground. 

The thought had me flapping my wings harder, trying to slow my descent and knock the creature off with my wings at the same time, but it was useless. Whatever this thing was, it was strong. 

I became aware of screaming in the distance, but I also heard a low growling voice in my ear, just barely audible over the wind. 

"Where is it?" The creature growled at me, claws continuing to scratch along my arms. "Where is it?"

Normally, when I was in the air, I had a perfect awareness of my surroundings. Now, however, the thing clawing at my arms was making us twist in midair repeatedly and uncontrollably, and my surroundings became a blur, making it impossible for me to see how close the ground was. 

For a moment, I felt the claws that were piercing my left arm release, and I had enough sense to try and jerk myself away from the creature, which was the only thing that saved me from being clawed across the face as the claw sliced through the air. 

Then there was suddenly a searing pain through my right arm as the creature and its claws were forced off and away from me. 

As soon as the thing was off of me, I threw my wings out to their full span, trying to slow my descent as quickly as possible, wincing as the sudden movement pulled at the wound between my wings. I started to slow down, but not fast enough, and I landed with a crash and blacked out. 

When I came to, I was lying in a pool of water about two inches deep. I had landed in a parks water fountain that was large but not well maintained since the water I was laying in was a gross murky green. Still, it must have soothed the burning of my wounds on my back and arms because when I stood up, using the fountain for support, the burning pain that I expected didn't come.

I carefully stepped out of the fountain, my sneakers making a wet squelching sound as I did so. I cast my eyes upwards, trying to spot the rest of the flock in the air. I knew that one of them must have pulled the thing off of me, as there had been no way I would have been able to dislodge the thing on my own, but now I was worried about them fighting the creature. 

I couldn't find them in the sky, but then from a distance, I heard shouting, and Max's familiar voice calling for everyone to get away, and I quickly ran in the direction of their voices, folding my wings onto my back and under the jacket I was wearing as I went. 

When I found the flock, they seemed relatively unharmed, but they were facing off against the creature that had torpedoed me out of the sky. They all stood in defensive stances that Jeb had taught us but made no move to attack the thing that they were facing off against.

I didn't know what else to call the thing other than a creature. It had black leathery wings, but instead of coming from its back as ours did, they were where its arms were supposed to be with hands on the end of the wings with fingertips that pointed into vicious claws that were currently still covered in my blood. Its face almost looked like a normal old ladies, but its features were off. Its teeth were too pointed, its nose too long, and its smile was stretching impossibly wide. 

I was so distracted by the creature that I almost hadn't noticed that there was an extra girl. She was standing in front of the flock like she was going to protect them, even though she only looked to be my age. As I came up behind the creature, it lunged at the unknown girl, and from nowhere, the girl blocked the claws attached to the end of the wings with a sword. 

It was like the sword had appeared out of thin air. One moment it wasn't there, and the next it was. The sword looked bronze and seemed to shine with a strange internal glow. 

The girl was skilled with the sword, but the creature had more skill and strength, and after a few more swings, the sword was torn from the girl's hand and behind the creature, landing only a few feet away from me.

Slowly, so as not to alert anyone to my presence, I started making my way towards the sword on the ground. The rest of the flock was still in their defensive stances, unsure what to do. In situations like this, we normally tried to retreat, but they were not willing to leave without me and unsure if this creature would be able to fly faster then them in the air. Our usual escape route wouldn't work this time if the creature could just fly after us. 

Curiously no one else in the park seemed to notice what was going on, a pair of joggers went by without even glancing at us, and a family, a couple of dozen yards away, wasn't even batting an eyelash at the fight going on. But I didn't have time to wonder what was wrong with these people. I had finally reached the sword, and I grabbed it without hesitation. It was more off-balance then I had been expecting, and seemed almost short for a sword, but the girl who had been wielding it before was shorter than me, so I figured it was probably the perfect size for her. 

The creature reared its wings back, clearly preparing for another attack. Gripping the handle tightly I jumped towards the creatures exposed back and stabbed down, right where its heart would be.

The creature exploded into golden dust. 

The dust got into my eyes and mouth, and I tried not to breathe it in, as I stumbled forwards, losing my balance after the creature had vanished. 

Max was on me in seconds. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

The rest of the flock crowded close as Max looked over my arms. She knew I had been scratched terribly by the creature, but there was nothing there anymore. 

I could see the second Max realized, her eyes flickering up to meet mine sharply, silently asking what had happened. 

Usually, Angel translated for me, seeing as I couldn't speak. Her being able to read my mind and tell people what I was trying to say came in handy, now though the strange girl was right there and we didn't need to be showing her any of our secrets. 

I stood there as Max continued to check to make sure that I was okay by running her hands along my forearms and my back between my wings. Seeing no pain show on my face, she finally relented. I wasn't sure how, but all of the injuries from falling out of the sky were gone. 

Once assured that I wasn't bleeding out, Max turned to face the unknown girl, relinquishing me to Fang and the others. Fang checked me over for injuries himself, before patting my shoulder and going to join Max. The others crowded around me while we stood a little behind Max and Fang. 

"I am sure you have questions," The girl was talking to Max, but it was apparent from the way that she kept glancing between Max and Fang that she was intimidated by them. Fang wasn't doing her any favors either; he kept his eyes blank and posture stiff. Standing next to Max, they made an intimidating pair. 

If their wings had been out, they would have been stretched up in the air as far as they would go in an attempt to make themselves look bigger, but lucky for the girl, who already looked like she wanted to run away, all of the flock's wings were safely hidden under our coats and sweaters. 

"We have a lot of questions." Max agreed.

"That's fine," The girl nodded, twisting her hands together as she spoke. "But we can't stay here, we can talk somewhere else, I don't want any more monsters finding us."

Fang's eyebrows lifted slightly word 'monsters' but didn't question it as we all began to walk quickly down the sidewalk and out of the park. The girl turned to start walking in the direction of the restaurant that we had come from earlier, but Max quickly realized that us going that way was probably a terrible idea.

"Not that way."

The girl turned to look at us funny but shrugged and turned the other direction, all of us following her hesitantly. I could tell that neither Max nor Fang liked the idea of following her anywhere, even if she had just tried to save our lives. 

Nudge stood next to me as we walked, Iggy and Gazzy behind us with Angle tucked in the middle of all of us so that she wouldn't get lost or wander off.

"I'm glad your okay, Percy." Nudge told me quietly, which was surprising because Nudge never really did anything quietly. Her shoulder bumped mine as we walked, and I felt the last bit of fear slip from my body, knowing that I was back with the flock. Hurtling towards the ground at such a speed was always a terrifying experience, especially when I usually had nothing to fear in the air.

I gently prodded my mental connection with Angel, and she translated my thoughts out loud for me easily. "He says that he is glad that we are all okay too."

We fell back into silence after that, following along behind Max and Fang until they finally decided that enough was enough and that we were not going any further without answers. 

"I think this is far enough," Max told the girl as we approached a bus stop. Max stopped walking and instead sat down at the empty bus stop; we were all quick to follow her lead. The girl stopped walking in surprise, turning around to face us again. "You tell us who you are and what that thing was right now."

The girl nodded. "Okay, fair enough, this should be far enough away anyway. My name is Katie Gardener, and what attacked your friend over there was called a Kindly One."

Gazzy snorted. "Didn't seem very kind to me."

The girl, Katie, frowned at Gazzy's comment. "It's not their real names, but names have power, and it's not good to say them out in the open like this when we are somewhere safe I can explain what it was to you better."

"We aren't going anywhere with you until you explain what just happened, and why it attacked Percy." Max was the most stubborn person I knew, and I was sure that we really wouldn't be leaving this spot unless it was a life or death situation or until we got answers. 

Katie seemed to realize this too. Her face was hesitant, and she was twisting her hands together again, but she began to speak anyway. "I've never had to explain this to anyone before. But do you know the Greek Gods?"

Growing up inside the School had been pretty detrimental to our education; despite the name, everything that we had learned Jeb had taught us like reading and writing. Then, after he was gone, we had learned on our own. If we were interested in something or needed to know something, we had looked it up and learned it. 

None of us had ever had a reason to research Greek Mythology, so we never had. Us having never even heard about Greek Mythology seemed to surprise Katie; apparently, it was common to learn about it in middle school. 

So the flock sat around a bus station in New York City and got the quickest greek history lesson ever courtesy of Katie Gardener. 

"What do these Greek Gods have to do with anything?" Iggy demanded after she had given them all a quick run-through of the Titans and the twelve Olympian gods. Katie laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh, it seemed bitter. "The only thing the gods don't have anything to do with are their kids," She told Iggy, completely serious. "Everything I just told you is true, the Greek gods exist even today, and I am a daughter of Demeter. 

Nudge stopped her there, voicing what everyone was thinking. "How can we believe you? You know you sound crazy, right?"

Inwardly I agreed, it did sound crazy. I knew that the flock was seriously behind on the knowledge department, but even we would have heard if the Greek gods were real. Still, something about the story resonated with something deep within me, and I wanted to believe her. Besides, we were bird kids on the run from a secret lab where they did human experiments. Anything was possible at this point, right? 

Fang spoke for the first time since Katie had started talking. "Say we believe you," Katie looked indignant at not being believed and, despite her earlier fear of Fang, opened her mouth to interrupt, but Fang ignored her and continued talking. "Say we believe you, what do they want with Percy? Why attack him?"

Katie shifted on her feet, once again, not making eye contact with Fang. Instead, she looked up at me. Our eyes locked and I couldn't look away, I knew deep down why I had been attacked over everyone else in the flock — the reason the Kindly One had targeted me.

"Because Percy is a demigod too." Katie said, and for the first time since we had met her there was no hesitation in her voice.


End file.
